Crystal Ball
by Stormkpr
Summary: Azazel/Riptide. After Azazel is injured on a mission, the two ponder their future. COMPLETE


**Crystal Ball**

The setting was a claw-foot bathtub inside the cramped bathroom of Azazel's room, inside one of the Hellfire Club's hideouts. This headquarters was sequestered somewhere in Eastern Europe.

Due to the full tub, the bathroom was pleasantly steamy. Riptide had added salts to the bath, and he stuck his hand into the water to ensure that the temperature was very warm - almost too hot - just the way Azazel liked it. Behind him, Azazel finished undressing, a process made more difficult because of his injury.

"Let me help you in," Riptide said.

"I can do it," Azazel said, his uniform soon in a heap on the floor.

Riptide raised an eyebrow. He wondered if Azazel would teleport into the tub but knew he would not. This past mission not only ended with Azazel's arm in a sling but it had also exhausted him. Teleporting was apparently not easy, not when done as frequently as Azazel had during the past 48 hours.

"I insist on helping," Riptide said, and Azazel did not protest.

With assistance, Azazel slowly stepped into the tub and lowered himself down. He settled into the hot water, resting his injured arm on a makeshift ledge that Riptide had placed inside the tub.

"Perfect, Janos. Nice and hot - just what I need after that mission."

Riptide set about to matter-of-factly wash Azazel. He began with reaching for the shampoo. Riptide enjoyed working it into a lather, telling Azazel to close his eyes, feeling the slippery suds against Azazel's coarse hair. He knew Azazel liked it when he gently scratched his scalp during the shampooing. The texture of his hair was unlike anything Riptide had ever felt before but he didn't find it unpleasant at all. He used a bucket to rinse.

"Are you not worried your clothes will get wet? You probably should take them off," Azazel suggested.

Riptide rolled his eyes and ignored the comment.

"You want me to create a whirlpool? That might be fun," Riptide offered, gesturing with his hands.

"Thank you, but no."

"I don't like this injury to your arm and how tired you look," Riptide said quietly.

"I am not as young as I once was," Azazel admitted.

"And this mission was sloppy. Not planned well."

"Shhh. You never know when they may be listening," Azazel cautioned. He thought he should be perhaps even more worried but was a little too tired for that.

"They usually leave us alone once Emma realizes we're naked," Riptide could not help but to smile.

"You see then – all the more reason for you to undress at once," Azazel suggested, with a smile of his own.

"I am glad to see that despite an injury and despite how exhausted you **claim** you are, that this fellow still controls you," he said, gently brushing a hand against one of Azazel's body parts.

Azazel chuckled but, sensing the time was not right, decided to let this go and relax against the tub. He **was** tired. His injured arm was sore but the hot water felt very soothing.

"So tell me again," Riptide began again, his voice now sounding dreamy, "about our life after the Hellfire Club. What it will be like." He was washing one of Azazel's legs with the washcloth now.

"Ah, yes; I cannot wait to retire, my sweet. We have our leads on a few tropical estates and almost enough money to buy one. Whichever one we pick, they are all in those hot climates you like. You will of course need to be naked all day because of the heat, although we will have pool which you can take a dip in when you want. I don't like the heat so much, so I will spend the daylight hours in our furnished basement."

"If you are in the basement all day then you won't be able to see me in my naked glory as I swim and sunbathe and putter around our estate," Riptide remarked, enjoying showing Azazel his more sarcastic side today.

"I will come up there periodically to look at you."

"Just to look?" Riptide interjected.

"And do more. We will make love not less than twice a day," Azazel stated.

Riptide smiled, especially at Azazel's choice of words. The words "making love" hadn't always been part of their vocabulary; they used to refer to the act in much more coarse terms.

"Especially in the morning," Riptide added, a time of day when they both tended to be especially aroused.

"And we will get very high fence so no one can see me when I do come upstairs."

"Very well. Although I still wonder why you don't like the heat so much given all the – what do you say? – fire and brimstone when you teleport."

"I am from very cold climate, you know."

Riptide was nearly finished with his cleaning of Azazel. Azazel greatly enjoyed the warm soapy water and the tender ministrations of his lover, as well as the speculations about a better future. The fatigue of the mission was starting to melt away.

"And we will stay in bed as long as we like with no interruptions, and no intrusions into our minds," Riptide continued with the fantasy of their future.

"I like it all. But…we should talk about other version we discussed before. The alternative. What if the Children of the Atom take over?"

"Yes, I like this version too. Then there will be no need for all those high walls on our estate," Riptide said. He then added, "Unless I am to go about without a stitch of clothing on all day. Then we still need them."

Azazel ignored the sarcasm, and speculated, "We will go where we want, we will live with mutants only, and we will rule over any useless humans who are left."

"We can go to some of those swanky parties that Mr. Shaw and Emma attend. I know, I know – you don't want. But if the world is all mutants and human servants then maybe you get used to going out – fancy parties and such can be fun."

"You just want to dress us **both** up."

"I would not mind seeing you in a different suit," Riptide admitted. "Too bad mine don't fit you." He paused. "We can go places as a couple. Mutants are more evolved and don't think it is weird for two men to be together. Shaw and Emma have never had a problem with it."

"Except they saying that we spend too much time in bed together."

Suddenly they both heard it. Emma's whistle and then Emma speaking directly into their minds. She informed them that she and their leader would need a pickup in about ten minutes.

"Oh, Janos. I am so tired. I'm tired of teleporting. I did not want to have to get dressed after this."

Riptide reached his hand out to help steady Azazel and assist him out of the deep tub. He then procured two towels, handing one to Azazel and using one to himself begin drying off Azazel's lower body. The towels were soft, new. Azazel began toweling off his hair and face.

"Just twice more today, then I hope they leave us alone. You come back here and rest. Is there something I can get you when you return?"

"Just glass of vodka - and your clothes on floor."

"I prefer to hang them up, you know that. But maybe, if you are lucky, I will have this outfit on hangers by the time you return."

Riptide assisted Azazel into his uniform, a process which was cumbersome due to Azazel's bandaged arm. Should Azazel get his wish this evening, Riptide knew that Azazel's damaged arm would not be a problem due to the command he had over his tail and his ability to use it like a fifth limb.

Azazel's mind was still on his request for Riptide's clothing to be off when he returned. "Do not make your injured, old man beg for it."

"It is a nice thought – the idea of you begging - but I suppose you know that I have not the willpower." A pause. "I just remind my injured, old man that I am not his servant either."

"I would never think so. I do appreciate you taking care of me like this; perhaps I return with little gift for you." Azazel affectionately ran a few fingers through Riptide's hair.

"Later. No more teleporting than needed. Maybe when you are rested you can get me something."

They finished dressing Azazel, Riptide combed Azazel's hair, and he gave his goatee a trim. They were silent now as they prepared for his departure.

"It is time for me to leave," Azazel said after several minutes, glancing at his watch. Shaw and Emma did not take kindly to tardiness.

"Yes," Riptide said. He was quiet, as was Azazel. He pulled Azazel into a slow, lingering kiss.

"It is going to have to be the second one, isn't it?" Riptide said, his voice melancholy. "For our future. Shaw will never just let us go."

"No. He will not. We know too much, he relies on us too much. The Children of the Atom must win," Azazel said, stressing every word in that imperative. "Even if it means most of humanity becomes destroyed. It is only way for you and I to get our happy future together."

**THE END**

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